


Aftermath

by misbehavingvigilante



Category: Leverage
Genre: Character Study, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-28 18:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18761680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: Parker liked cereal probably more than was healthy, however Eliot’s usual complaints about her diet would be kept to himself for the next couple of days. Things had ended well against all odds, they all returned alive, mostly whole, despite facing down a Steranko and having a run in with Parker’s so called father.





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote majority of this last year, but I just couldn't figure out the tail end of it, thus why it's only here now. I'm still not 100% on it, but even so I still do like it a lot. 
> 
> It's been a while since I've done anything for leverage so enjoy!

Parker liked cereal probably more than was healthy, however Eliot’s usual complaints about her diet would be kept to himself for the next couple of days. Things had ended well against all odds, they all returned alive, mostly whole, despite facing down a Steranko and having a run in with Parker’s so called father.

It wasn’t a surprise in this business that relationships didn’t tend to be the healthiest, crime didn’t often draw in the well-adjusted individuals after all.

There was merit to the philosophy of not getting involved, and focusing on just getting out particularly for a thief. But even if you weren’t one, it helped ensured you survived by never letting anything like morality compromised your shot at a clean getaway.  

There were plenty of people like that in the business, hell most of the team at one point or another had embodied that same exact philosophy, as such it was a chilling reminder of how far they’d come.

Nate and Parker had been talking more since then, a surprise given he usually left the mentorship to Sophie. Understandably since Nate couldn’t really give the best counsel on how to deal with emotions without finding that answer in a bottle. Then again, he was probably probing Parker’s head to see if she was going to run off and do reckless like that again.

As if he really had any room to talk about pulling reckless schemes, without considering how it might impact the team. Nate and Parker were a lot more alike than people seem to realize which was something of a scary thought.

Parker didn’t let emotions get in the way often because she didn’t understand them though there had been marked improvement in that department, flourishing thanks to Sophie’s tutelage. Whereas Nate saw emotions as an acceptable sacrifice if his plans required them to be sometimes thinking of people more as pawns than puzzles with how big picture his thinking sometimes got.

Eliot wasn’t sure where he was going with that thought, to be honest he probably didn’t have enough information to figure out exactly what Nate was planning yet, so it was something he’d just have to keep an eye on.

Hardison drifted into his line of sight, and Eliot could tell by how he held himself something was bothering him.

It was probably the same thing that was bothering him. It was no secret that Hardison liked Parker, though Parker may have not understood that despite the kissing the man more than once.

Not that he thought about Parker and Hardison like that. That would be wrong.

“You haven’t been yelling at Parker as much lately.” Hardison said, more seriously than he usually got proving that the man was more than just a snarky hacker who didn’t know when to shut his mouth but the smartest man he’d ever known.

Not that Eliot had elected to share that particular piece of information with Hardison yet however. It never seemed like the right time to drop that bombshell knowing that Hardison would lord it over him for the rest of time.

Or at least as long as the team held together this time until the next disaster struck.

“She doesn’t need to hear that she shouldn’t have cereal for every meal of the day.” The right now part went unspoken but understood judging by Hardison’s nod.

“I know you two don’t always get along.”

“She confuses me sometimes.” Not as much lately as Eliot had begun to understand Parker a little more just by simple venture of spending time with her and by the fact Parker was willing to let them all in a little more recently.

Sometimes, he swore Parker did things intentionally to mess with them just to keep up the charade of being an enigma, so that no one could get in and be able to hurt her.

Granted he didn’t have any proof so much as a gut feeling but his gut had been the only thing that kept him alive before so Eliot was inclined to believe it without hesitation.

“Yeah.” Hardison agreed. “I don’t always understand her either, but she’s her, you know? There’s nothing wrong with how she is.”

Eliot’s reply gets cut off by the sinking suspicion someone is flitting around silently behind him and is rewarded by a pop of blond at the edges of his vision. Eliot holds back a smirk, not willing to part with the illusion as he doesn’t change his posture at all so Parker can hide behind him until just the right moment to pop out and scare Hardison.

This is why Hardison shouldn’t bring his computer with him everywhere and the moment he looks up, Parker jumps out from behind him.

Hardison shrieks and ends up falling on his ass. Eliot breaks out into a wide grin at display but also catching the laptop from falling off of the kitchen island; knowing Hardison would bitch up a storm if any harm befall his precious laptop even though it could and had survive worse drops before.

But Parker laughs and no one has heard Parker laugh in days.

“Stop trying to scare the daylights out of me.”

“Are you a power source now, Hardison?” Parker teased. “There should be no light to scare out of you. Daylight or otherwise.”

“The light of my life!” Hardison replied with not nearly as much heat as he would have ordinarily mustered given the circumstances but still clearly unhappy with the circumstances she announced herself as.

Parker shrugged, and set her sights on him. Contemplation marring her features for a moment that Eliot takes in with additional focus noting that she does look better, lighter than she had in days more back to her usual self.

“You knew I was there.”

“I always do.”

“What did I tell you about tag teaming me?”

“Sophie says I should find interests I have in common with other people.” Parker said as if the shared interest she had with Eliot wasn’t scaring Hardison. “Are you going to tell Sophie she’s wrong?”

“No, because she’s scary.” Hardison grappled back to his seat looking between the two of them with lingering suspicion. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

“Oh. That reminds me, Hardison.” Parker sits beside him as Eliot goes ahead and think of what to put in front of them as they’re together and he has the chance to feed them both now with likely little protest. “Could you explain something to me? I never did get an answer.”

“Uh, sure.”

“What’s sexting?” Parker asked innocently. “Eliot wouldn’t tell me the other day even though he had no problem being called my boyfriend, he said ‘I’m not having this conversation with you, Parker’.” And she mimicked her best Eliot voice during the quote.

Eliot nearly dropped something at the reminder. The only reason he hadn’t was to keep an air of nonchalance behind him reminding himself he had been through various torture. This conversation no matter how awkward couldn’t come anywhere closer to things he had already endured in the past.

“You called Eliot your boyfriend?”

“Well, he’s not a girl so I didn’t call him my girlfriend.” Parker pointed out as if Hardison was the one making an obvious mistake. “Eliot, you’re not a girl, right? Sophie says you should ask what someone identifies as so you don’t make anyone uncomfortable.”

“I’m not a girl.” Eliot confirmed, still not wanting to be part of this conversation but seeing no easy way out now but at least Hardison had for once diverted a conversation successfully.

“I’m glad we could have that discussion about gender expression.” Hardison added incredulously like he couldn’t believe that this was his life. “So if you just called him your boyfriend, how did sexting come up?”

“Oh, that was another guy.” Parker made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “I just told him Eliot was my boyfriend because that seemed easiest. It makes people leave you alone and you don’t even have to stab anyone.”

“Stabbing people doesn’t always make them leave you alone.” Eliot said more out of caution for Parker not to get the wrong idea because he definitely had more experience stabbing people than she did. 

“You would know.” Hardison agreed.

“The guy I was supposedly ‘sexting’ said he had a scar that made him look hot.” Parker used the air quotes and everything pretending it back to attention much to the combined discomfort of Eliot and Hardison. “I thought scars were only hot when they were infected. It’s one of the signs.”

“I got some discoloration on my legs from having my laptop on my legs too much.” Hardison chimed in, he wasn’t much in the way of scars but that was about the only thing he had to this conversation.

“You’d think with how smart you are that wouldn’t have happened in the first place.” Eliot scoffed.

“See some people would see that as a backhanded compliment? Me,” Hardison broke out into a carefree grin, “I’m only focusing on the part where you called me smart. Please go on about your deep seated love of my bright, brilliant mind. And maybe I’ll build you something nice.”

Eliot rolled his eyes, not willing to even humor that with a response because Hardison was right on point and maybe he could miss it, but Parker’s sharp eyes noted things meticulously even if she didn’t always understand them.

She’d go to Sophia to sort them out and then invariably Nate would know, and Nate would drop that bombshell if he thought for a moment it would be useful for Hardison to know for whatever schemes he got up since he just loved playing his own team.

“You’re both smart.” Parker said diplomatically. “Do the two of you really not know what sexting is, though?”

Hardison made a choking noise.

Eliot just sighed. “I will make you whatever you want, to not to have this conversation with you.”

“Fair enough.” Parker conceded.

 

 

 

“So you know how sometimes you like saying things just to see how a mark responds?” Parker asked, sliding up to Nate at the bar, casual but calculating as she got a glimpse into how much he had already drunk.

“I usually have a reason for that.”

“Is it sometimes because it’s fun? Because I pretended to not know what sexting was in front of Eliot and Hardison?” Parker grinned. “Their reactions were fun.”

Nate finished the reminder of the glass before giving his reply. “Sophie?”

“Oh, yeah. She cleared that up for me after I talked to her about…. You know.” Parker said without saying. “I don’t know why she did because it would have been funny to keep asking and asking to see what I might get out of it next. Eliot made me bunny pancakes though it was late at night so I wouldn’t ask him. I wonder what Hardison would have gave me?”

“Hmm.” Nate made a considering noise. It wasn’t the play he would have gone with but then again, relationships were Sophie’s domain. “Interesting.”

“The bunny pancakes?” Parker asked, though went on without waiting for a response. “They were. I didn’t think he would actually do it. But his face, you should have seen it. I wish I took a picture of it. Maybe Hardison installed cameras when we weren’t looking, that would so come in handy right now.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna chat, I'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/thiefoftruth26).


End file.
